The Dolphins running game provided what the offense needed to help protect Ryan Tannehill and the Dolphins offense from being predictable (i.e. one dimensional). Daniel Thomas and Lamar Miller combined for 103 yards on 21 carries. Unfortunately, the Dolphins went away from the run late in the game. Tannehill had not been sacked until the 4th quarter. The Dolphins ran the ball 3 times in the 4th quarter. Their first drive of the 4th quarter was a 3 and out that consisted of three passes. In their second drive, Tannehill was sacked for 9 yards on the first play at which point the Dolphins ran it out of the shotgun on the next two out of three plays. Each run gained 1 yard.

The Dolphins wide receivers caught 16 passes for 185 yards and two touchdowns. Brandon Gibson had both touchdowns but Mike Wallace made a big play late in the 1st half to set the Dolphins up on a scoring drive and Brian Hartline was his typical self, making timely catches when needed.

Mike Sherman finds things that work such as a power running game, a moving pocket and hitting Mike Wallace deep and he goes away from these things and reverts back to the pass happy offense that causes Ryan Tannehill to get sacked because he has an offensive line, particularly a right side, that cannot protect him. When the Dolphins pass ratio skyrockets, the trouble begins. And yet Sherman can't get out of his own way, especially late in games. With the way the Dolphins defense was playing and the way the Dolphins had success running the ball, I would have been content with three straight runs and a punt late in the game when Tannehill was sacked and fumbled the ball. But Sherman went back to the same quick passing game that teams know is the Dolphins bread and butter and we all saw the result.

Tyson Clabo needs to get benched. Nate Garner cannot be any worse than Clabo. I really wanted Clabo to succeed and was happy when we signed him, but he has been such a huge liability in pass protection and the Dolphins cannot run behind the right side. He may actually be worse than Marc Columbo.

The Dolphins were 3 of 13 on third down. The Bills were 9 of 19 (being live at the game, I didn't think we were that bad on defense on third downs). Couple that with losing the turnover battle 3 to 1 and the result is that the Dolphins beat themselves against a team with a quarterback that was promoted off the practice squad recently.

The Ugly

Ryan Tannehill had one of those frustrating games inexperienced QBs will often have. He started off with a pick 6 and threw another pick when we were in scoring position. He shook it off to throw three touchdown passes and get the Dolphins back in the game and they eventually took a 21-17 lead. He was finding success getting outside of the pocket. However, as the pressure came on in the 4th quarter and the Dolphins reverted to their vanilla offense, his fumble turned out to be the deciding play in the game. Tannehill is partially to blame as this was a three step drop and he had to get rid of the ball quickly, but ultimately it was a stupid playcall by Mike Sherman.

Overall

The Dolphins started off 3-0 and are now 3-3 on a 3 game losing streak. They looked poised to make a play off run after some tough wins against the Colts, Browns and Falcons, but have now lost to the Saints in a blowout and had tough losses against the Ravens and Bills. Next up are the Patriots in Foxboro. With a leaky offensive line, especially on the right side, and a stubborn coaching staff that seems to revert to things that are proven not to work and with a quarterback that has been hit so much this season that it has to be affecting his psyche, it will take a monumental shift in momentum for the Dolphins to beat the Patriots.

My hope is that this was a needed loss aka the necessary gut punch that wakes EVERYONE up.

Two of the worst interceptions of Tannehill's career, but he redeemed them with his first 3 TD performance. I still think he's more solution than problem. Unfortunately he's in that phase of needing the team to step for him more and can't mask their deficiencies because he has a few of his own. I don't fault him on that fumble, he had zero time.

I don't get the running game decisions. Yes Miller had a nice break away, but Daniel Thomas was pounding it for solid gains in the first half. Then they revert to the stupid shotgun formation runs which put the team back to 2nd and long/one dimensional offense.

A lot of people are killing the coaches. I thought they dialed up a decent gameplan but screwed up in key spots...seems to translate to certain players on the field. Why they went away from the runs that worked is beyond me. Why they make a QB, who gets hit constantly, run a sneak up the middle is beyond me. Why they don't add Yeatman to help Clabo on key 4th quarter drives is beyond me.

Miami's defense did enough. 7 points are definitely not on them, and stopping the Bills on that final drive is a lot to ask. But man the LBs struggle with coverage.

Everything that is wrong with this team is fixable. Two starting points are benching Clabo or giving him added help in max protect, and using inside runs to create 3rd and short situations. The play that Clay scored a TD on should be a staple for 3rd down situations. Play action boot legs the same where Tannehill can sprint 5 yards and get out of bounds.

Another thing we did learn - this o-line is completely incapable of making a screen pass work. That failed miserably.

Considering the Dolphins were at mid-field and needed to kill three minutes, why not continue to run the ball? Why exactly were the Dolphins passing on second-and-8 from the 50-yard line with a one-point lead?

Tannehill acknowledged he checked into a pass play after seeing the Bills defense in an eight-man front, which means they were committed to stopping the run.

"It was one of our pass concepts," coach Joe Philbin said. "It was something we'd done a bunch of. It was a base concept, a play we felt we knew and a play we felt we could execute."

Tannehill described the play as "great" and pointed out the Bills have given the same coverage to the formation all game. Hartline was running a comeback route, and Tannehill was waiting for him to stop before throwing the pass.

So let's stop throwing the ball while Clabo is the right tackle since he can't be trusted.

Ya, because every pass play during every game is in the 4th quarter protecting a lead while trying to drain the clock.

My point is that while you have to recognize the specific situation and the coaches should have, you also have players around you that throughout the game you have no choice but to trust them to do their job.

There were so many opportunities to win this game............I'm sure Don Jones was wondering if he still had a job this morning. He has to know he can't be the first to touch the ball after going out of bounds. You've got to wonder if anyone that stupid has a long-term spot on this team. I know he had the big hit in the Atlanta game, that led to the Denney recover, but even then he was a moron.........celebrating the tackle, while the ball was on the ground.

If Coaches want to send a message............I would consider giving him the ax.